Evaluation and Mitigation of Crosstalk Effects in Silicon Bolometers Arrays

Resistive infrared detectors arrays (bolometers) may show interferences between devices. Such interferences called crosstalk, or more specifically sneak path, reduce the signal quality, causing reading errors. This work proposes an interesting alternative solution to avoid sneak paths in bolometers arrays. The idea is to use simple diodes in series with the detectors, so all possible sneak paths are grounded and the detectors are only trigged when the diodes were conducting. Test were conducted in purely resistor arrays and diode-resistor arrays. The target resistance of one element was set to 105 kΩ. For both isolated devices and matrix devices elements, the target resistance was achieved, indicating that the sneak path effect has been avoided. So, this solution, in addition to improving the signal quality, is also a simpler construction when compared with transistors switches solution, requiring less metal levels, since no tracks are required to activate the transistor.